Leah's doctor helped her feel less guilty about having to supplement while breastfeeding.

Transcript

Absolutely. Yeah. Like, and the way she delivered, it was perfect. Saying this is – you need to do this. It’s like a treatment. It’s like giving a medicine. Yeah, your baby’s not thriving on breast milk. They need this supplement to. And yeah, that was very helpful wording it like that and coming from a healthcare professional. Had it come from my mother or a friend, I wouldn’t necessarily have taken the message the same way. But I think coming from a healthcare professional and wording it like it was a treatment, took the guilt factor away from me completely. And my son needs this. I would give him medicine for anything else. So I’m gonna give him formula. I think it was good for my husband as well, who was really rooting for the breastfeeding. But for him to hear it in that way. I think was also helpful. Yeah.

Interviewer: Can you say a little bit more about that guilt factor?

I think like all mothers, like you know I just had a lot of pressure from the nurse, my husband, and other family members who were able to breastfeed without much difficulty. And even friends that were around me that were breastfeeding. I just felt like it was something I had to do. And I you know felt like there was something wrong with me that it was so difficult, or that there was something wrong with my baby. And I just, yeah, I would – like and I really had that feeling that I honestly would never judge another mother who decided to switch to formula. I would be their first cheerleader saying, “Good for you for deciding what’s best for you.” But I just could not do that for myself. I couldn’t, like I – OK, if these people are want me to do it, I have to get this done.

And then then it was like, we invested so much time in all this breastfeeding stuff, let’s just keep going a little longer, maybe it’ll come. I couldn’t just make the decision to just stop or to just yeah, switch. Yeah, and I kind of wish I had a healthcare professional say, “You have given this a good go. It’s OK to try something different [laughter]. Your baby will still be fine. And you’ve done your best, you can let the guilt go. It’s not – you tried.” Yeah. But yeah, that never came, but I definitely would tell any new mother, you know just feel good that you tried, something you wanted to try. If you didn’t want to try that’s cool too. But if you tried and you did, you gave your all. You did the pumping, you did the –if it’s affecting your mental health, which is going to affect your baby.

So don’t feel bad about switching, it’s OK, your baby’s gonna be fine. And they’ll be more fine because if you’re better, in a better state. So if you feel you need to do that, just don’t listen to anyone else. It’s your body and just go for it.

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